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Nobody was surprised when the justice of the peace read out her verdict; not the defence lawyer, not the Crown, and not the family trio who ran the overcrowded, unlicensed home daycare business where Eva Ravikovich died.

J. Richard Forget, defence counsel, summed it up with a shrug. “It was expected,” he said.

Olena Panfilova, Ruslan Panfilov and their adult daughter Karyna Rabadanova were found guilty by a Newmarket court of running illegal daycares out of neighbouring homes in Vaughan. Crown lawyer Abel Fok said it was “the worst case” the province has ever seen — arguing the family knowingly broke the law to enrich themselves, “lied” to parents about being licensed, and set up shop in side-by-side houses with “filthy” and “crammed” conditions inside.

Despite a warning from the government that their business was illegal, it only came to an end with the death of doe-eyed, 2-year-old Eva, who was found lifeless inside the daycare registered to Panfilova, at 343 Yellowood Circ., on July 8, 2013.

Justice of the Peace Marie-Christine Smythe ruled that there were 28 children at the family’s daycares the night Eva died — all of them under the age of 10. Nineteen were being cared for at 343 Yellowood, and police discovered nine more next door at 345 Yellowood, Smythe said.

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2-year-old Eva Ravikovich was found lifeless at the home daycare business. on July 8, 2013. (FAMILY PHOTO)

According to the Day Nurseries Act, home daycares are allowed to operate without a licence only if they look after no more than five children with uncommon parentage.

Fok said there were also more than a dozen dogs in an area that smelled of urine inside 345 Yellowood, next to a room where three children were sleeping. He described bags of dirty diapers in the kitchen at 343, and rooms with six playpens and seven cribs, including one found in a closet with children’s scribble on the wall.

The Crown wants the defendants jailed for three to six months.

“The defendants clearly displayed an utter disregard for the Day Nurseries Act and deliberately flouted the law,” Fok said during sentencing submissions.

“The deception to the parents, the deception to the ministry to flout the rules — that takes this case into a whole different realm,” Fok said. “We have never seen a set of facts like this.”

Forget agreed that the case is unprecedented, but said his clients should only be fined between $10,000 and $20,000. He argued that it’s possible the ministry warning was misunderstood by the family, who required a Russian interpreter during the trial.

The defence counsel conceded the businesses “got out of hand,” but said that the daycares served as a sort of “cultural centre” for the area’s Russian community.

“My clients are all very remorseful for what happened,” he said. “It is certainly a tragic case.”

Homicide detectives from York Region continue to investigate the circumstances of Eva’s death, police confirmed Thursday. Panfilova and her daughter were charged last fall with obstructing police and destroying evidence, and a completed coroner’s report into the cause of Eva’s death has not been released because of the ongoing investigation.

Patrick Brown, the lawyer representing Eva’s parents in their lawsuit against the province and daycare operators, told the Star that Ekaterina and Vycheslav Ravikovich welcome the guilty verdict as a step forward, but a step too late.

“Although the operators were found guilty, this type of prosecution should have been brought by the Ministry of Education well before Eva died,” he said, pointing out that government inspectors failed to look into four complaints about the daycare at 343 Yellowood.

“In Ontario, you should not have to wait until a little girl dies to take action to shut places like these down and prosecute those responsible,” Brown said.

After the verdict on Thursday, the Panfilovs and their daughter scampered past reporters and tried to avoid the TV cameras as they left the provincial courthouse.

Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 18.

New legislation passed in the wake of Eva’s death stiffened penalties and regulations for unlicensed daycares. Maximum fines for operating illegally were increased from $2,000 per day to $250,000, and inspectors were given the power to immediately shut down a child-care business if they believe children are in danger.

The Yellowood Circ. daycare operators were charged under the old rules, meaning the maximum penalty they can get for operating illegally over more than six months — the period they for which they were convicted — is $750,000 in fines and one year in prison.

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“In Ontario, you should not have to wait until a little girl dies to take action to shut places like these down and prosecute those responsible,” Brown said.

After the verdict on Thursday, the Panfilovs and their daughter scampered past reporters and tried to avoid the TV cameras as they left the provincial courthouse.

Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 18.

New legislation passed in the wake of Eva’s death stiffened penalties and regulations for unlicensed daycares. Maximum fines for operating illegally were increased from $2,000 per day to $250,000, and inspectors were given the power to immediately shut down a child-care business if they believe children are in danger.

The Yellowood Circ. daycare operators were charged under the old rules, meaning the maximum penalty they can get for operating illegally over more than six months — the period they for which they were convicted — is $750,000 in fines and one year in prison.

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